On meromorphic solutions of generalized algebraic differential equations

Summary In this paper we investigate the rate of growth of meromorphic functions f which are solutions of certain algebraic differential equation whose coefficients a(z) are arbitrary meromorphic functions. By method based on Nevanlinna's theory of meromorphic functions, it has been shown that if the zeros and poles of f satisfy the condition N(r, f′/f)=S(r, f′/f) then the ratio T(r, f′/f)/(T(r, a(z)), as r → ∞ outside a set of r values of finite measure, is bounded for at least one of the coefficients a(z). The content of an invited address delivered by the author on March 27, 1971 to the 683th meeting of the American Mathematical Society of the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. Entrato in Redazione il 16 novembre 1970.